10 Fresh tools and resources for web developers

In this post I want to suggest you some interesting tools and resources for web developers. This list includes a CSS framework to design sitemaps using HTML lists, some interesting JavaScript frameworks, some interesting jQuery plug-in, a PHP face detection script, a tutorial to work with the Twitter API and a tutorial about how to retrieve your Gmail emails using PHP.

1. SlickMap CSS, A Visual Sitemapping Tool for Web Developers
SlickMap CSS is a simple stylesheet for displaying finished sitemaps directly from HTML unordered list navigation. It’s suitable for most web sites – accommodating up to three levels of page navigation and additional utility links – and can easily be customized to meet your own individual needs, branding, or style preferences. The general idea of SlickMap CSS is to streamline the web design process by automating the illustration of sitemaps while at the same time allowing for the predevelopment of functional HTML navigation.

2. WaveMaker 5
WaveMaker gives you an easy and productive way to build Web 2.0 applications. Typical applications include a rapid prototyping and development, a form-driven database apps, a front end "face" for SOA architecture.

3. QuickFlip jQuery Plugin
QuickFlip is a jQuery plugin that uses a CSS trick to cause a div, paragraph or any other piece of HTML markup to flip like a card. With a result similar to the UI animation on the iPhone, this jQuery plugin is easily integrated into your webpage to make any portion appear to flip and show its back.

4. Face detection in pure PHP
Maurice Svay released this interesting face detection script to detect automatically faces in photos with PHP.

5. PHP.JS
PHP.JS is an open source project in which we try to port PHP functions to JavaScript. By including the PHP.JS library in your own projects, you can use your favorite PHP functions client-side. Using PHP.JS may speed up development for PHP developers who are increasingly confronted with client-side technology.

6. jQuery Blend
Blend is a jQuery based animation/effects, progressive enhancement plugin for CSS backgrounds (just 1.4KBs).

7. Twitter API: Simple Twitter Search using PHP
This post illustrates how to implement a simple Twitter search and display search results in a web page with a custom format.

8. Flapjax
Flapjax is a new JavaScript framework designed around the demands of modern, client-based Web applications. Its principal features include: Event-driven, reactive evaluation; An event-stream abstraction for communicating with web services; Interfaces to external web services.

9 Glow
Glow is a JavaScript library which aims to make working with JavaScript and the DOM easier. It tries to do this by abstracting common tasks, hiding cross-browser issues, and providing a set of user interface widgets.

10. Retrieve Your Gmail Emails Using PHP and IMAP
Grabbing emails from your Gmail account using PHP is probably easier than you think. Armed with PHP and its IMAP extension, you can retrieve emails from your Gmail account in no time! Take a look at this interesting post of David Walsh.